Professor Alan Bovik, ECE alumni Dr. Umesh Rajashekar, UT psychology professor Larry Cormack, and Dr. Ian van der Linde are attempting to answer 2 fundamental questions on the way to creating intelligent artificial sight: What do people look at? and What do people look for?

The human visual system is constantly bombarded with a slew of visual data, from which it actively selects and assimilates relevant visual information in an efficient and seemingly effortless manner. The researchers have developed an algorithm which imitates the human eye when searching for an object within a cluttered space. The information they find will allow them to develop software and other hardware. The results could be used to create applications to help with medical diagnostics, or even to find lost car keys.